For the greater part of the United States, transportation by truck over the federal and state highways represents the most economical method for hauling goods. To maintain optimum economic efficiency of hauling freight by truck, and to take full advantage of recent deregulation of the trucking industry within the United States, it is in the best interest of all those involved in the trucking industry to maximize use of readily available shipping capacity on a regular and up-to-date basis. One manner of achieving this goal is to assure that trucks haul a load both to and from a main destination. It is thus desirable to reduce, to the extent possible, the number of times in which a truck travels empty, either on a return trip from a main destination or enroute to picking up a load in another location. In short, there exists an ongoing need in the trucking industry to collect and disseminate available-load information in a continuous, efficient and up-to-date manner.
One current available-load information system utilizes the many truck stops found along our nation's highways. According to the system, a monitor displays available load information for the locality of the truck stop. A driver at the truck stop simply views the screen to learn of the available loads and the destinations for the available loads. He or she then calls the number of the shipper displayed on the screen to obtain more information from the shipper.
While this system has proved somewhat beneficial to truck drivers and shippers, it suffers from a number of practical disadvantages. Namely, limited availability and geographical restrictions reduce the overall effectiveness of this system. For instance, many large cities where goods originate do not have easy access to a truck stop with such a system. As a result, truck drivers are required to drive to the nearest truck stop which employs such a system to obtain the information displayed on the television screen, and then, in most cases, drive back to a manufacturing sector of the city to pick up a load to be shipped. The costs associated with shipping by truck correspond directly to the number of miles that a truck driver must drive. Because this available-load information system often requires extra driving, use of this system results in added costs.
Moreover, with this type of system it is difficult for a trucking company hauling a load from a first, origination city to a second, destination city to learn ahead of time about return loads available at the second city. To avoid returning to the origination city with an empty truck, the trucking company needs to know in advance what, if any, loads are available for hauling from the destination city back to the origination city. Because the above-described system relies upon a visual monitor fixed in one location, i.e., the truck stop, the available-load information is not readily obtainable outside of the immediate geographic area. Those not at the truck stop cannot take advantage of the system. Thus, dispatchers for trucking companies must make long distance telephone calls to various locations to find an available load which best suits their needs. Sometimes this method "ties up" available loads because a dispatcher will accept an available load, yet continue to attempt to obtain a better, i.e., more economical, load. If a better load is found, the first is cancelled. As a result, the first load may be unnecessarily delayed by the dispatcher if a better load is located.
In short, there exists a need for a more efficient, accurate and economical manner of collecting and disseminating available-load information within the trucking industry.